Process for manufacturing press-free, resinated, double-face, interlock knit fabric

ABSTRACT

This invention relates to the process for providing a permanently shaped fabric. A resin resistant yarn and resin absorbing yarn are knitted to provide a fabric having the resin absorbing yarns on the back and the resin resistant yarns on the face. A thermosetting resin is applied to the absorbing yarns and the fabric is partially cured, thereby providing the garment fabric with the resin absorbing yarns along the inside surface thereof.

United States Patent [72] lnventor Emanuel M. Feinberg FOREIGN PATENTS 64 69119899 Blvd Atlantic Beach, 1,199,361 6/1959 France 66/197 [2 U A l N 52 1,077,750 8/1967 Great Britain 66/197 pp o. [22] Filed Aug. 31, 1967 OTHER REFERENCES [45] Patented May 25, 1971 A Technical Approach To Durable Press, du Pont Technical Information Bulletin X-212, April, 1966. Textile Fibers Department, Technical Service Section, E. l. du Pont [54] PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING PRESSJTREE, de Nemours & Co., (Inc) Wilmington, Delaware-19898. pps. RESIN ATED, DQUBLEFACE, INTERLQCK KNIT 3, 4 rehed upon. Copy in Group 352, U.S. Patent Office. FABRIC Prim E r ry xamznerRobert R. Mackey 3 Chums 5 Drawmg Attorney-Hopgood and Calimafde [52] U.S. Cl 28/74, 28/77, 66/196 1 invention relates to the process for provid- [JO] Fleld 0f Search 28/74, 77; ing a permanently shaped fabric A resin resistant yarn and 66/196, 197 resin absorbing yarn are knitted to provide a fabric having the resin absorbing yarns on the back and the resin resistant yarns [56] References Cum on the face. A thermosetting resin is applied to the absorbing UNITED STATES PATENTS yarns and the fabric is partially cured, thereby providing the 3,307,379 3/ 1967 Woolley et al 66/ 196(X) garment fabric with the resin absorbing yarns along the inside 3,449,058 6/l969 Hellman et a1 28/74(X) surface thereof.

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1 N v ENTOR. EMANUEL M. FE/NBERG BY I? ATTORNEYS PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING PRESS-FREE, RESINATED, DOUBLE-F ACE, INTERLOCK KNIT FABRIC This invention relates to a knitted permanent press or pressfree fabric. More specifically, this invention relates to a pressfree, resinated, double-face interlock knit fabric in which the face yarns are selectively wear-resistant and the back yarns are selectively resin absorbent.

Permanent-press fabrics, generally, have been made of woven fabric in which the yarns are a natural fiber such as cotton or a composition of cotton blended with a synthetic fiber such as Dacron. The fabric is resinated by applying liquid thermosetting resin and heating the wet fabric to the semicure state. The fabric is cut, sewed and otherwise formed into a garment. The gannent is then heated to fully cure the resin which has been retained in the yarns.

Ordinarily, cotton has a high bursting strength which means that it possesses good resistance-to-wear characteristics. However, when cotton is resinated, its bursting strength substantially decreases and its resistance-to-wear decreases substantially.

The prior art has recognized the harsh effects of the resins on the fibers which had been rendered unduly brittle and the effect on the tensile strength as well as the tear strength. The garment formed from the permanent-press-type fabric is prone to wear because of the weakened cotton. This reduces the value and desirability particularly since -permanence" is the sought quality. This problem is aggravated when a crease is formed because the points of wear are focused at the crease.

Prior techniques to overcome this problem have been chemical in nature and have used special aqueous solutions during the process of impregnating the fabrics with the thermosetting resin. Prior processes have used textile softeners and specific resins which in some cases have required the addition of deodorants to the fabric. Further difficulty exists in dyeing a blended yarn fabric since different yarns react differently to the same dye and do not produce the same shade.

Usually, manmade synthetic fibers have different rates of dye diffusion from the natural fibers and therefore, in cases of the intimate blended fibers, uniform coloration is difficult. This has limited the number of yarns which have been used and has created substantial processing problems.

For example, one well-known fiber, nylon 66 is receptive to practically all classes of dyes. However, in a nylon and wool blend, while each has an affinity for the same type of dye, each has a drastically different absorption rate and make every shade change and blend proportion a new dyeing problem.

In Orlon blended with cotton, rayon or'wool, these latter fibers must be bleached first and then the Orlon must be dyed.

As a general rule, in dyeing blended fibers, a process involving two separate baths is required to provide solid shades, one which is effective for each of the respective blended fibers.

An object of this invention is to provide a knitted garment having permanent-press or press-free characteristics.

Another object is to provide a long-wearing, knitted garment having pressfree characteristics which has full color consistency.

A further object is to provide a long-wearing knitted garment having press-free characteristics.

Still another object is to provide a knitted, stretchable, press-free garment.

Another object of this invention is to provide a novel knitted fabric having a special arrangement of manmade and natural yarns.

Still another object of this invention is to provide an economical, dyed, knitted permanent-press fabric.

A further object of this invention is to provide a novel process for making a shaded or colored knitted permanentpress fabric.

A still further object of this invention is to provide a permanent-press knitted fabricin which the problems of dyeing are eliminated and the fabric and the garment can achieve a full color consistency which can preserve the casual ap pearance which ordinarily is provided in a knitted fabric.

Briefly, in my invention, the fabric is knitted so that cotton loops form the back surface and Dacron loops form the face and separate yarns interlock the loops. The Dacron is resistant to absorbing any resins. The entire fabric may be dipped in the resin, and only the cotton will absorb the resin. The fabric is then heated to cure the resin.

A garment made from the foregoing procedure is attractive since it is knitted and thus presents a casual, distinctive ap' pearance. It can be knitted in many designs for jackets, shirts, pants, etc.

At the same time, the garment is substantially wear-resistant since the cotton having the lower wear resistance is protected and is not on the exposed surface. The permanent-press quality is achieved since cotton absorbs the resin which becomes fully thermoset; in this condition, it is the cotton yarns that provide the permanent-press and the wrinkle-free characteristics and the Dacron yarns conform to the configuration provided by the resinated cotton.

In an aspect of this invention, the dyes specially are selected to dye the individual Dacron yarns in the fabric to the desired shade and yet provide full color consistency to the fabric.

The above mentioned and other features and objects of this invention and the manner of attaining them will become more apparent and the invention itself will best be understood by reference to the following description of embodiments of the invention taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

form;

FIG. 2 illustrates the garment of this invention;

FIG. 3A is a top enlarged view illustrating the top of the can be used by a garment maker to make a garment suggested" in FIG. 2. The fabric is knitted and possesses permanent-press or press-free characteristics. The fabric is shown in more detail in FIGS. 3A and B which show the yarns of the fabric knitted in a special double layer interlock stitch. The outer face is formed of synthetic or manmade yarn, such as nylon, a polyamide, Dacron, a polyester, or another synthetic fiber such as polyacrylic, or fibers such rethene, polyvinyl chloride.

The yarn forming the inner face or back may be a natural fiber, of animal, or vegetable origin such as silk, wool, asbestos, cotton, flax.

The outer face yarn is a synthetic and for purposes herein,

resin resistant; that is, it does not have a high rate of absorbing resin, and unless specially treated, the resin which is used for pennanent-press operation will not be absorbed. Conversely,

the natural fibers forming the inner layer have an affinity for the resin and will generally be considered as resin absorbent.

The fabric shown in FIG. 1 is shown in more detail in FIGS.

3A and 3B. The face comprises a series of resin-resistant synthetic yarns designated generally by A and B and the back comprises a series of resin absorbing yarns designated generally by E and F. The yarns A, B and E, F form face and back loops respectively which define the knit on the two opposed surfaces. The loops are held or locked together by two lay-in yarns C and D which are sandwiched in between the se ries of loops comprising the faces.

It will be noted that the yarns comprising the face do not carry back and terminate sh rt of the back surface whereas the yarns forming the back do not carry to the face of the;

fabric and stop short of the face surface.

More specifically, the face is formed by resin-resistant yarns A and B which provide successive, altemating series of knit loops, the yarn B forming the loops B, B and B and the A yarn forming the loops A, A and A". Similarly, on the back, the resin absorbing E yarn forms the loops E, E and E" and the resin absorbing F yarn forms the loops F, F and F". There are two interlocking or lay-in yarns C and D, the yarn C typing FIG. 1 illustrates the knitted fabric of this invention in roll as polyethylene, polyuloop B to loop F to loop B to loop F to loop B to loop F", while D yarn ties loop E to A to E to A to'E to A". The C yarn ties adjacent alternating loops on the opposite faces and the D yarn forms the same function as the C yarn only for the alternating interleaving series of loops.

lt will be noted that if one of the interlocking yarns is a synthetic, the front face will present the synthetic and yarn loops from resin resistant synthetic yarns A and B, almost entirely covering and protecting the cotton. If all of the interlocking yarns are synthetic, then the back face will entirely be hidden.

Alternatively, in another aspect of this invention, one or more of the interlocking threads will be formed of cotton.

. Here again, the cotton will lie below the front surface defined by the loops formed by the synthetic which will receive the brunt of the wear. The cotton carries the thermosetting resin which, when cured, provides the press-free, wrinkle-free. permanenvpress characteristics of the knitted fabric.

After the fabric has been knit, it is processed or resinatcd by applying the resin thereto in a manner which is known to the art.

Therefore, this aspect will be described very briefly. The resin is of a thermosetting nature and is absorbed by the natural fibers. The fabric may be passed through a resin bath and allowed to dry and the heat applied thereto semicures the resin. lt is well known that when heat is applied to a thermosetting resin, molecules thereof do not become permanently thermoset or cross-linked unless the heat is at a sufficient temperature and for sufficient duration. Unless this occurs, the cross-linking occurs only at such a state that the plastic becomes solid but will degenerate further by application of certain chemicals or an inadequate amount of heat.

in this state, the fabric is readily processed and may be cut and sewed to form a desired garment.

In the preferred embodiment, the fabric is resinated, that is,

fully cured so that the thermosetting resin becomes completely polymerized and the molecules thereof are fully crosslinked. In this situation, the fabric can be rolled as shown in F 1G. I. This knitted fabric then possesses the wrinkle-free permanent-press characteristics.

ln one embodiment, a stretchable knitted permanent-press garment, such as any garment which clings to the body, that is, soft and has a desirable feel, is obtained.

In one of the. embodiments of this invention, the face is formed of a nylon stretch yarn. The resulting fabric and garment is wrinkle-free, stretchable knit. Undergarments could be made from stretchable knit.

Therefore, in an aspect of the invention, I provide an undergarment, panties, formed of a tight knit fabric, as described herein, using stretchable nylon on the face, and resin absorbing cotton on the back.

The outer yarn may be a stretchable nylon whereas the inner yam can be cotton having the resin applied thereto as stated previously. In this case, the cotton has been treated so that the resin has been fully cured. To obtain the stretch, in

addition to using stretchable nylon, I use the residual amount of stretch existing in the cotton, as well as the knitted construction which; being composed of a series of loops, has inherently a certain amount of give. I

Referring now to FIG. 4, there is shown a flow chart for the process described in this invention. Separate cotton and Dacron yarns are knit together to form the fabric shown in FIGS. 1, 3A and 38, after which the entire fabric is passed through a dyeing step, where the dyeing compounds and steps are adapted to give the face yarns or the Dacron yarns the desired coloring. The yarns forming the back surface will be substantially hidden and problems relating to unequal dyeing are subsequently reduced. The dyed fabric is then resinated and dried.

The fabric can be completely cured and sent to a garment maker in the form of a roll as shown in FIG. 1 after which it can be cut, sewed and otherwise shaped.

In an alternative embodiment, the fabric can be semlcured after the dyeing steps and sent to the garment maker as a roll of semicured fabric. The garment maker can cut, sew and otherwise form the garment after which it will be finally cured.

While the principles of the invention have been described in connection with specific embodiments, it is to be clearly understood that this description is made only by way of example andnot as a limitation to the scope of the invention as set forth in the objects thereof and in the accompanying claims.

lclaim:

l. A process for providing a permanently shaped fabric comprising the steps of providing first and second synthetic resin resistant yarns, providing first and second resin absorbing yarns, knitting said first and second resin resistant yarns to fonn alternating loops of said resin-resistant yarns, knitting said first'and second resin absorbing yarns to form alternating loops of said resin absorbing yarns, connecting alternating loops of said resin resistant yarns and said resin absorbing yarns with first and second interlocking yarns at least one of which is made of a synthetic material to provide a fabric having the resin absorbing yarns on its back and said resin resistant yarns on its face, applying therrnosetting resin to said resin absorbing yarns and partially curing said fabric, cutting and shaping said fabric to the shape of a desired garment with the resin absorbing yarns along the inside surface, and fully curing said garment.

2. The process of claim 1, in which said first and second interlocking yams are both synthetic and made of the same material as said first and second resin resistant yarns.

3. The process of claim 1, in which the other of said interlocking yarns is made of resin absorbing yarn. 

2. The process of claim 1, in which said first and second interlocking yarns are both synthetic and made of the same material as said first and second resin resistant yarns.
 3. The process of claim 1, in which the other of said interlocking yarns is made of resin absorbing yarn. 